The Mummy's Secret
by blackfire93
Summary: A young woman named Anta Aella meets Evy, Jon and their parents when she saves Evy from drowning. They grow close and when Anta who goes by Ella finds out Evy and Jon are traveling to the city of the dead and Evy ask's Ella to go along Ella jumps at the chance. Later one she meets one Ardeth Bay and makes him a promise that she intends to keep no matter what...
1. Chapter 1

**OC's mother was Egyptian her dad was Greek the orphanage kept the name her parents had given her Anta Aella ( she has no last name), she grew up in an orphanage and often snuck out she picked up English and taught herself how to fight and learned how to pickpocket and she learned the street's of Egypt very quickly, then when she was 7 she snuck on a Oriental ship and became friends with the Captians twin daughter and son. She grew up with them learning how to sail, fight with weapons (knives ,swords, daggers) and she was taught martial arts. She learned Japanese and Mandurian pretty quickly however she only knew passable Chinese and how to curse in Korean. When she was 16 she decided to travel the known world and learn as much as she could. When she turned 17 she traveled to England where she met Evy, Jon and their parents. She is 6 feet tall and unlike Egyptian woman she does not cover her head, she does not wear dresses, she does not stay quiet, she speaks her mind and say's what she wants when she wants. She has golden brown skin color, wavy black hair cut at her shoulders with blond and red tints in it. Large Azure blue eyes with brown flecks close to the pupil. She was given a tattoo at the orphanage and had a saying drilled into her so much so that she remembers it all her life. She also got six other tattoos, an ahnk on her left ring finger, the Udjat symbol in the center of her coller-bone, the Maat symbol on her left ankle, and the ancient kanji for black panther tattooed on her right shoulder as that's what the Japenese called her for her skill's an intricate design that covers her right hand on both sides and showing two different colored blossoming lotus flowers and lastly a full back tattoo that has a black hooded figure wielding two swords standing on-top of a pile of skulls, blood is dripping from the swords and onto the skulls, the figure is outlined because there is a large full white moon with golden tints right behind the figure, above the figure in Japenese kanji it says, "Let death fall swiftly upon the enemies of my family for if not I will bring it to them slowly". . Three earrings in her left ear and four in her right.**

 **OKAY I THINK THAT'S EVERYTHING. ENJOY AND REVIEW (I'm re-writing this story and adding some details for all those who already read this story and are confused as to why I'm reposting chapters you have already read.)**

 **CHAPTER ONE**

I yawned and stretched before standing up and getting ready to leave, I glanced over the pond, my eye's widened as I saw a girl running across the frozen surface.

I looked around and saw there was no one else before looking back at her and watching in horror as she fell through a patch of thin ice.

Immediately I ran forward choosing my footing wisely but quickly before lying down to evenly distribute my weight as I got close to the hole.

The girl was gasping and trying desperately to stay afloat.

I reached out,

"Come here." I said as I reached as far as I could.

The girl reached towards me and when I got a hold of her arm I started wiggling backwards while keeping a tight grip on her.

"Give me your other hand as well and be ready. I'm going to yank your arms very hard, and I need you to throw your body towards me when I do okay?" I told the girl.

She nodded as she coughed up some water and gave me her other hand.

With a quick tug and skillful maneuvering I had her out of the water and onto the ice beside me in a minute.

Then I drug her backwards from the place she fell through and when I knew it was safe I picked her up,

"I need you to guide me to your house, you can't fall asleep okay?" I said.

She nodded her whole body shivering and her teeth chattering as she gave me directions.

I rang the bell of the house she pointed out to me and the door was opened seconds later.

A beautiful Egyptian woman stood in the doorway,

"Oh no!" The woman gasped before moving backwards letting me step inside the home.

"She needs to get out of her wet clothes, dryed and put in new clothes. You should aslo give her some hot tea with a little bit of whiskey to get her blood flowing." I told the woman as I followed her to what I assumed was the girl's bedroom.

The woman nodded and thanked me, I told her I would show myself out and I started towards the door.

I almost made it to the door when a boy who looked around my age came running down the steps towards me.

"Mother wants you to stay so she can thank you properly, my names Jonathan by the way." The boy said sticking his hand out for me to shake.

I smiled,

"Hello Jonathan, it's nice to meet you." I replied.

And that was the day I became a friend of the family Carnahan.

I taught Jon how to pickpocket and I told Evy stories about Egypt and other places that I had visited.

Their parents trusted me and I soon became like a part of their family and I loved it.

I had always wanted a 'real family' something that I had never really had before, so this was amazing to me.

Then in 1920 when Evy and Jonathan's parents were killed in a plane crash I stayed with them for a year trying to help in any way possible.

When they started to receive money from their parents will Evy spent it only as she needed it, however Jon spent his money on liquor and became a drunk much to Evy's dismay, I didn't like it either but I knew everyone had different ways of dealing with pain.

When Evy moved to Cairo we rented a flat together although I wasn't there for weeks on end as I loved to travel and learn new things.

Evy started a job at the Cairo Museum of Antiquities and Jon became an archaeologist, though not a very good one seeing as how he was drunk most the time.

Years passed and I started to wonder if I would ever fall in love, not that I hadn't had relationship's but I didn't feel love for them more like a lust and after a few weeks it was ended usually mutually.

I came home to find Evy packing some clothes in a rather full suitcase one day and something in me told me that things were going to be interesting from now on.

"Hey Evy, where you going?" I asked.

"Oh Ella! I'm so glad your here. Jon and I are going on an adventure. A man claims to be able to show us to Hamunaptra." Evy said excitedly.

"The city of the dead? Sounds like fun, mind if I tag along?" I asked, not wanting to miss the chance of an exciting trip with my honorary little siblings.

"That would be wonderful!" Evy said happily.

I grinned happily and eagerly said, "I'll go change and re-pack."

After both Evy and I had finished packing, Jon came to pick up Evy and was surprised to see me.

After we had a happy reunion we all headed for the docks.

"Do you really think he's going to show up?" Evy asked Jon.

"Yes, undoubtedly knowing my luck. He may be a cowboy but I know the green, he's as good as his word." Jon said.

"Well personally I think he's filthy, rude a complete scoundrel I don't like him one bit." Evy replied with a bit of a pout making me wonder about what this man had done as Evy usually liked everyone.

I saw a handsome man coming towards us as Evy was talking.

 _"Hmm…I wonder..."_ I thought watching him get closer.

"Anyone I know." The guy said causing Evy and Jon to turn around.

The priceless looks on their faces caused me to bit my lip as I tried to hold in laughter.

Evy's mouth fell open and the man looked at her raising an eyebrow as he waited for her to speak.

"Oh...um...Hello." Evy breathed.

Jon immediatly spoke up then, "Smashing day to start our adventure then, hey O'Connell."

"Yeah, yeah smashing."

The guy, O'Connell, said as he reached into his jacket pocket to check for his wallet.

I smirked at his actions, they told me this man had clearly met Jon before and he must have lost something in the process.

My attention was diverted so I didn't hear the rest of their exchange in favor of getting a parcel from one of my contacts that was waving me over.

After handing him the money I owed him I turned back towards the barge just in time to see Evy and Jon walk up the plank behind a short and round man wearing a red fez.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

After boarding the barge I immediately headed towards the room Evy and I were going to be sharing.

I put my suitcase and duffel bag next to the door so Evy could have the rest of the room and unwrapped my parcel.

I ran my fingers over the beautiful twin sword's sheath that had an intricate white dragon design on them that was the mark of the best sword maker in Japan.

Unsheathing the swords I made a few moves with my wrists checking the weight of the swords in my hand as I admired the beauty of their blades before re-sheathing them.

I immediately put them into the holder which I then strapped onto my back before I went out and started exploring the boat.

I met O'Connell who would be showing Evy, Jon and myself to the 'City of the Dead' and we exchanged first names.

He told me his names was Richard but he asked me to call him Rick, I told him my first name was Anta but I went by Ella.

We talked for a while and then Rick asked me about my twin swords that were strapped to my back.

I smiled and pulled them out of the holder although leaving them in their respective sheaths as I let him look them over.

"I got them made specially for me while I was visiting in Japan." I replied as he touched them gently his eyes showing his admiration.

As he ran his hands up and down the length of the sheath his sleeve pulled back showing off a tattoo.

Curious as I had the same tattoo I asked him about it showing him that I had the same tattoo.

We found out that we had been taught the same saying and the reply that we should give when we heard it.

"I wonder if every orphanage gave them out or if it was just yours and mine?" I said conversationally as I put the swords back into the holder on my back after he handed them back to me.

He snorted, "Who knows? All the people who run them are insane if you ask me." I snickered and nodded my agreement before pulling out a small dagger and began to tap it between my fingers slowly at first but picking up speed.

"What about your other tattoos?" Rick asked me curiously.

I paused from my concentration on my dagger and flexed my right hand which had an intricate design on the front and back of it all off the black lines meeting and looping around on my hand creating a blossoming red Lotus flower in the center of my palm and a blue blossoming Lotus flower on the back of my hand.

"This one I got because of the meanings behind the red and blue blossoming Lotus flower. The red lotus symbolizes love, compassion, passion, and other emotions of the heart while the blue lotus represents knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence."

I said as I turned my hand so he could see both lotus flowers while I told him the meanings.

Putting down my right hand I held up my left hand showing him the ahnk on my left ring finger.

"The ahnk is a representation of eternal life also it looked cool and reminded me of my homeland while I was traveling." I told him

"While I get that each one has a meaning how did you stand the pain? Especially on your right hand?" Rick asked.

"I drunk till I could drink no more and then had them tie me down." I answered with a grin.

He grinned back and pulled out a bottle of whiskey that he had 'borrowed' from someone and offered me a swig and I knew then that we were going to be best of friends.

When night fell I was laying on-top of the cabin roof staring at the stars and thinking of my past when I heard gunshots.

"Well at least Evy can't holler at me since I'm not responsible for breaking the peace this time."

I muttered before I sat up and looked over the edge of the cabin roof.

I knew the smile on my face and the twinkle in my eyes gave away any annoyance that I might have projected into my voice away.

Being peaceful was never really my strong suit and I was aching to use my new swords.

I jumped down and saw men dressed all in black with black head coverings lighting fire's and generally causing a ruckus.

Immediately I pulled out one of my swords and started to engage the three men closest to me.

I didn't even have to pull my swords which disappointed me slightly so I put a little extra strength as I kicked the last guy in the head knocking him to the floor unconscious before I took off to try and find Evy and Jon.

It was chaos, men were firing their guns, fire was everywhere, some of the people were letting the horses out of their stalls.

I saw Evy with Rick and gave a small sigh of relief that was one sibling accounted for before I turned and saw Jon running my way but watching behind him.

 _"And that's two."_ I thought with relief.

"Evy, Jon!" I hollered as soon as they looked at me I motioned for them to come, however I ended up fighting some more of the strange men and I lost track of them as I ducked under their blades and used my fist's and feet to take care of them.

I ran towards the room Evy and I had been put in and found it untouched, grabbing my duffel bag I turned and raced back towards the deck.

I looked around and was starting to get worried when I didn't see Evy, Jon or Rick, then I heard them hollering my name from the water and immediately jumped overboard.

We all swam to shore, I helped Evy out of the water before I looked back at the burning boat and gave a tug on my duffel bag to reassure myself that I had indeed grabbed it.

I wasn't worried about the loss of my suitcase, I had my weapons and my duffel bag was filled with that was basically all I needed.

Evy however mourned the losses, "We've lost everything, all of our tools, equipment, all my clothes and yours to Elle."

Then an annoying voice from the other side of the river reached my ears,

"Hey O'Connell, looks to me like I've got all of the horses!"

I looked across the river to try and pick out who that annoying voice belonged to so I could beat the crap out of them should we ever meet again simply because his voice irritated me.

"Hey Beni, looks to me like your on the wrong side of the river!" Rick hollered back before he turned towards our small group,

I mentally made a note, _"Beat the crap out of this Beni guy upon meeting him."_

I would have started to think up various ways of torturing him however Rick's voice cut through my thoughts pulling me back to the present.

"Okay we need to find things and make some torches. When we get further in and drier we can stop for the night and we'll walk to the next town as soon as the sun comes up to buy new supplies." Said Rick.

We didn't argue with him as he took the position of leader and we did as he said.

I didn't feel tired so I decided to keep watch over our small group, I noticed Rick doing the same.

"Rich grab some shut eye, you need to lead us and you'll need to be rested." I said.

I saw him mull that over before he gave me a grateful nod before laying down and falling asleep.

I woke him up when the sun started to rise and together we woke up the other three, before walking towards the nearest city.

When we got there Evy and I immediately went to get new clothes and a bath and I was never more thankful that I my birth language was Egyptian as I told the woman what had happened.

They took Evy and I in without any questions and after we bathed they gave us both a new set of clothes.

Both set's of clothes were black, however Evy's had silver thread sewn in flower patterns on her veil a silver sash and belt as well.

Mine had a blue flower patterns sewn into the veil and had a matching blue sash and belt, the blue color matching the color of my eyes.

I smirked as I saw Rick's face when he saw Evy in her new clothes and Evy's face when she noticed Rick's gaze.

 _"They are so cute! I'm going to tease them terribly."_ I thought as I walked over to Jon.

"You look nice." Jon said as he handed me the lead to a camel.

"Not near as good as Evy." I said with a grin and a wink as I mounted the camel and waited for the others to do the same.

Jon looked at me in confusion for a second before I tilted my head in Rick and Evy's direction.

Jon's eyes widened and he glanced between Rick and Evy several times before looking back at me with a mischief filled smirk which I returned.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

I yawned and my eyes felt heavy as our camels plodded on silently as we continued our journey to find the 'City of the Dead'.

I twitched in annoyance as the Warden's loud snores broke the peace that I had been enjoying.

I opened my eyes and shot a glare in his direction not caring that he wouldn't see it,

" _Annoying, arrogant, chauvinistic pig!"_

I mentally screamed at him, Evy had told me about him while we were changing our clothes and I felt disgusted by his actions but couldn't help the snicker at the image of Evy's face in response to his insinuations.

"What I wouldn't give for a gnat to fly into his mouth." I said quietly to Rick who snickered quietly.

A movement caught my eye and I grinned as I saw Jon who was just a bit ahead of the Warden smack him with his stick before faking sleep as the Warden woke up muttering some incoherent words before going back to sleep.

I let my gaze travel the night desert that was lit up by the full moon and saw several men on horses.

"Rick." I said in a low voice keeping my gaze on the outlined figures,

"I see them." Rick said his voice as low as mine so we didn't wake up the others.

I kept an eye on the outlined figures but soon they turned and left the ridge.

Rick and I exchanged glances as we continued forward both of us slightly tense waiting for an attack, the adrenaline rush keeping me wide awake.

Soon the sun was starting to rise causing the clouds to change from grey to a peach color and the other three woke up.

Not long after that I saw what I mentally labeled as Beni's party, coming towards us from the other side.

"Good morning my friend." Said Beni his voice grating on my nerves.

I clenched my jaw and tried to think happy thoughts since Evy had asked me not to pick a fight with anyone while we were traveling.

Rick just nodded with an slightly disgusted and annoyed smile on his face, as he turned his camel to face towards the sun.

One of the American's spoke up, "What the heck we doing?"

"Patience my good barat'm, patience." Beni said.

A different American spoke up,

"Remember our bet O'Connell, first one to the city, five hundred cash bucks."

Rick gave him a half-smile and silently looked towards the rising sun.

Then the first American spoke back up, "A hundred of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet."

I assumed he was talking to Beni and found my assumption correct as Beni replied.

"Oh my pleasure."

Rick scoffed at that, catching Beni's attention.

"Hey O'Connell, nice camel." Beni said.

I rolled my eyes,

" _Does the idiot not realize that he's sitting on a camel too?"_ I thought.

Rick gave the camel a pat as he said softly to the rest of us,

"Get ready for it."

Evy who was beside him and to my right, spoke up,

"Ready for what?"

Rick nodded in front of him, "We're about to be shown the way."

There was silence in both groups as we all waited for the sun to come up and within a minute it had climbed up into the sky.

Causing the desert to shimmer and contort into the remains of a city almost like ancient magic being weaved.

"Here we go again." Rick said softly.

I gave him a sideways glance and saw the resignation, remembrance on his face and a hidden fear in his eyes before glancing back out in front of us.

A twinkle from the ruined city seemed to light the spark of competition and immediately we were off, racing towards Hamunaptra.

Beni was in front but not for long as Rick caught up to him, then Beni started hitting Rick with his whip.

I smirked as Rick took care of him causing Beni to fall off his camel as we all raced on.

"And that serve's you right!" Evy said as she passed him.

I laughed at that.

Evy was not a violent person but if you got her cross at you she would find a way to get even.

Evy soon caught up to Rick and then passed him, Jon and I came up beside Rick then and soon we were all in the City of the Dead.

We set up our small camp away from the American's who grudgingly paid up on their bet with Rick.

Walking around Evy found the statue of Anubis and she wanted us to go down below it.

I left the group to pee which I had been holding for several hours now, when I came back I saw everyone getting ready to go down the hole.

Rick tossed down two torch's before going down the rope then I went, then Evy, Jon and last the Warden.

I couldn't contain my laughter as Jon let go of the rope and looking around with his nose wrinkled asked,

"What is that awful stench?"

Before he looked up and saw the Warden coming down right above him,

"OH." Jon said before walking towards me where I was standing and snickering trying not to laugh out-loud had my body shaking so I turned slightly away from the others.

Evy walked over to a big mirror and began to wipe off some cobwebs while I took the second torch and began to explore.

I walked further into the cave, faintly hearing Rick say something as I checked out the numerous passage ways and the hieroglyphs on the walls.

I turned around when I heard Evy call for me and caught up with them again before following them as they started walking down a different passage way, the Warden at the end of our small procession.

All the sudden what sounded like a million tiny bugs skittering across a hard wood floor echoed through the passageway.

"What's that?" The Warden demanded as we all turned and searched for what was making the sound.

"What is that?" Jon said as well, directing his question toward Rick,

"It sounded like bugs." Rick said.

Evy and I turned toward the Warden with matching mischief filled grins,

"He said bugs." We said at the same time.

The Warden pipped up, "What do you mean bugs? I hate bugs!" He said fearfully looking around before reaching up and grabbing the torch that I had been holding out of my hands.

"Jerkwad." I muttered under my breath along with several Korean expletives that had Evy pinching my arm lightly and giving me a look.

We continued and soon found a pair of legs coming down from the ceiling.

"The legs of Anubis, the secret compartment should be hidden somewhere around here." Evy said.

All of the sudden there were strange sounds echoing around the chamber.

Rick was already holding one of his guns now he handed Evy his torch and pulled out another gun holding them at the ready.

The Warden pulled out a gun as well, and so did Jon.

I took one of Rick's guns and stood beside Evy with Jon on my other side.

Evy grabbed a hold of my free hand and held it tight as we all pressed up against the statue bottom.

Then Rick stepped out and pointed his guns, Jon and the Warden beside him as I stood back with Evy who would not let go of my hand, holding my gun at the ready.

It was the American's, and all of them were holding guns and the annoying creation known as Beni was as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

"You scared the Bejezus out of us O'Connell." One of the Americans' said,

"Likewise." Rick said as everyone lowered their guns.

"Hey that's my toolkit." The American with glasses said as he took a step towards Evy.

"No I don't think so." Rick said bringing his guns back up.

Immediately the Americans raised theirs as well,

"Ok, well perhaps I was mistaken." The American with the glasses said as he took a step backwards even as he held up his gun as well.

There was a moment of tense silence before everyone started to lower their guns again when Evy spoke up,

"Well have a nice day gentlemen we have a lot of work to be getting alone with."

Then one of the American's wearing a red fez spoke up,

"Push off this is our dig site." In a very snotty tone of voice.

I clenched Evy's hand tight wanting nothing more than to punch the guy knowing how men like him seemed to think all men were superior to woman.

I had known many guys like that and I had made sure they never acted like that again...although sometimes it got out of hand and they ended up dead.

I shoved my memories back into their little box's although I didn't bother to hide my dark smirk as I stared at annoying American with the red fez who seemed to read my dark intentions as his arrogance look fell a bit.

"We got here first." Evy said as though explaining it to a child.

Immediately all the guns were raised again, I rolled my eyes at this, it was beginning to feel like a dance of sorts.

 _"I might be able to make this into a martial art's move."_ I thought as I waited for whatever was going to happen next.

"This here's our statue, friend." One of the Americans said.

"Well I don't see your name written on it, pal." Rick said.

I noticed Evy look downwards and I glanced down to, seeing a crack in the floor that she brushed some sand into with her foot.

As Beni's annoying voice spoke up and Rick and Jon replied, Evy and I exchanged glances and I gave her hand an encouraging squeeze before letting go.

"Oh for goodness sake children, if we are going to play together we must learn to share," Evy said stepping in between the guys, who lowered their guns as soon as she did.

I was tense, not wanting Evy to be in such a position just in case someone got a little to trigger happy.

Evy turned towards Rick as she gently pushed down on the barrel of his gun, "There are other places to dig." She finished saying.

Rick smiled unconvincingly and lowered his guns before putting them away.

Jon and the Warden and I doing the same before the five of us left.

With Evy leading us we went below the statue and began to work on the ceiling.

It was slow going with only one pick-axe and we were all getting thirsty so I went back to our small camp to grab another pick-axe and a canteen of water while the others stayed to work.

" _Or in Jon's place act like he was working because he really doesn't like to sweat."_ I thought with a fond smile and shake of my head as I thought of Jon.

I tied the canteen around my waist and tossed the pick-axe down into the hole before sliding down the hole.  
Picking up the pick-axe I made my way back to the others but just as I walked into the room the ceiling fell down.

"Really?!" I said looking at the ceiling in annoyance.

All that energy to climb up and down the stupid rope in the hot weather and extra pick-axe wasn't even needed.

" _Sure I'm fit and all but being in this sweltering heat, and being surrounded by annoying and arrogant males not to mention that sand gets EVERYWHERE and creates rashes gives me plenty of reason to complain!"_

I mentally complained as I handed the water canteen to Evy who took a sip and handed it off.

Jon, Evy and Rick had turned to me when I spoke up but now they turned back towards what looked to be a sarcophagus.

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked Evy nodding to the item that had fallen out of the ceiling.

"It's a sarcophagus. Buried at the base of Anubis. He must of been someone of great importance or..." Evy said

I finished her train of thought, "Or he did something very naughty."

That's when I noticed we were missing someone, "Hey were did our stinky camel in human form go?" I asked.

Jon snorted at that and Evy smiled and shook her head while Rick gave me an amused half smile and shrugged.

Evy and Rick wipped off the sarcophagus while Jon and I plopped down on nearby statue.

"Well who is it?" Jon and I asked together after a few seconds.

"He that shall not be named." Evy said as she read the hieroglyphs.

Rick blew some of the sand away from a certain place before pointing to it,

"This looks like some sort of lock."

Jon spoke up, "Well whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out."

Rick made a sound of agreement before speaking, "Okay it will take us a month to crack into this thing without a key."

Evy wrinkled her brow as she began to mutter, "A key...a key...A Key! Now that's what he was talking about!" Evy exclaimed as she turned around and went through her bag.

Jon and Rick looked at her in confusion while I cleaned off one of my three throwing knives that I had taken out of my duffel bag upon seeing the men watching us the night before.

"Who was talking about what?" Rick asked looking at Jon and I for an answer, Jon and I shrugged before Evy pipped back up.

"The man, the man on the barge the one with a hook, he was.. he was looking for a key." Evy said turning back towards the sarcophagus holding a strange small box.

"Hey that's mine." Jon said pointing to the small box I snickered and bumped his shoulder with mine.

"Not like you've ever done that." I said quietly to which he tried to give me an innocent look,

"I have no idea what your insinuating." He replied before we both snickered.

I stood up and walked over as Evy placed the key into the key slot.

All the sudden we heard the Warden start screaming from wherever he was and we all raced towards the doorway of the chamber we were in.

Rick had a gun in his one hand and a torch in his other.

I held one of my throwing daggers at the ready as we entered the hallway and saw the Warden coming towards us.

His shirt was ripped open showing his nasty fat and hairy chest and he was holding his head, Rick pointed the gun at him while the rest of us just looked at the crazed Warden.

He didn't speak and just kept screaming as he ran past us and straight into a wall, killing himself on contact with a broken neck.

We all stared at his body before exchanging glances,

"Well not to seem uncaring but do we have to bury him on the surface? He's a bit heavy to lift." I said.

In the end we buried him where he laid and just dug a hole close to him so we could roll him into it.

Then we all went to the surface, not surprisingly it was nightfall by then.

As we sat around the fire minus Rick who had went to talk to the Americans, Evy spoke up,

"What do you suppose killed him?"

Jon spoke up then, "Did you ever see him eat?"

I couldn't help but grin at that and Jon grinned back although Evy didn't find it funny.

Rick walked up to our fire, "Our American friends has a little misfortune of their own today. Three of their diggers were uh-' Rick looked at Evy as he hesitated before he continued, '-melted."

"What?" Evy said at the same time Jon and I asked "How?"

"Salt acid. Pressurized salt acid. It was an ancient booby-trap." Rick said.

"Maybe this place really is cursed." Jon said just as the fire flickered and the wind picked up.

All of us exchanged glances before Evy spoke up, "Oh for goodness sake you three!"


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"You don't believe in curses huh?" Rick said as he poked the fire,

"No I don't! I belive if I can see it and if I can touch it then it's real. That's what I believe." Evy said.

I didn't say anything however I did check out our surroundings.

I had spent a lot of time in a lot of places and although I wasn't very religious some places and people had very strong beliefs in gods, demons and curses.

I knew better then to discount things just because I didn't believe in them didn't mean they weren't real.

I had seen many strange things done to and by people who were said to be cursed or wielders of magic and sometimes I saw strange things done by things that I couldn't see but hadn't happened until the name of a certain god or demon had been invoked.

Rick lifted up his shotgun and primed it,

"I believe in being prepared." He said as he to checked out the surroundings.

Jon lost interest in the conversation and leaned over towards he Warden's things.

"Let's see what our friend the Warden belived in." Jon said as he dug through the Warden's pack.

"OW!" Jon said jerking his hand out of the Warden's bag, Evy screamed and Rick turned towards Jon with gun.

"What? What is it?" I asked in unison with Rick holding a throwing dagger between my fingers.

Jon reached back in the bag saying, "A broken bottle."

As Evy sighed with relief and both Rick and I relaxed a movement caught my eye and whatever else was said was lost on me as I tensed again, my eyes searching the shadows.

 _"There is someone or something out there."_ I thought as I searched for where the movement had come from.

Rick seemed to catch onto the fact that there was something wrong as well, he stood up and shoved his gun into Evy's hands,

"Take this and stay here." He told Evy as he started down towards the American's campsite.

I heard Evy and Jon speaking and coming down after me as I followed behind Rick having stood up not a second after he did.

I put my throwing dagger away and pulled out my twin swords just as men dressed in the same fashion as the ones who had burnt the barge came riding into the American's camp, yelling and shooting.

I ran towards the men dressed in black, I was ready for a good fight and with Evy and Jon and even Rick who was growing on me, close by and in danger I was going to defend them or die trying.

I had taken seven down choosing to knock them unconscious over killing them as dead people couldn't be persuaded to talk, when I saw Evy standing in the middle of the path with the shotgun.

"Evy!" I whispered, watching her to make sure she didn't get hurt and she didn't, although she ended up falling on her butt from the shotgun blast.

I smiled at that then I heard Jon hollering and trying to run away from one of the men on horseback.

I put my swords into their holders and jumped up onto the horse and tackled the guy causing him to fall to the ground with me.

I immediately slipped my twin swords out of their sheaths ready to take on the guy, although it was hard not to just kiss him as I had always found him quite handsome.

The fall from off the horse caused his head covering to fall off from around his face.

"You know I would love to kiss you when this is all done, in fact I think I will if your still alive, that's a promise." I told the guy conversationally as I blocked his sword with my own.

I knocked his sword out of his hands and held my swords at the ready as he pulled out the sword in his belt.

Then Rick got involved, he must of lost his gun's in the fight because he was holding a stick of lit dynamite towards the handsome guy like it was a dangerous snake that was about to bite.

I rolled my eyes and huffed,

"You just had to take all the fun out of it didn't you!" I said to Rick as I swirled my swords in my hands not putting them down but not attacking the guy either.

The handsome guy looked between me and Rick before putting his sword away which led to me putting mine away,

"Enough! Yallah! We will shed no more blood. But you must leave, leave this place or die." He said before turning and getting on a horse.

When he got on his horse he turned back towards us,

"You have one day. Yallah Imshi." He said starting to turn away when I grabbed his horse's bridle and patted its nose before looking up at handsome guy who was watching me carefully.

"Hey handsome those several guy's are just unconscious so you'll want to take them back with you. And if I see you again be prepared because I intend to keep my promise."

I said motioning towards the unconscious men before ending with a sultry smile and wink up at him.

I didn't bother to watch his reaction as I turned around and headed towards Rick.

"Where's Evy and Jon?" I asked, hoping they had escaped any harm.

"I'm down here." Evy said from her place sprawled out on her back in the sand.

I smiled as Rick went to help her up and left the two of them to look for Jon.

I found Jon and soon everyone was once again ready for sleep, except Evy who was drunk and Rick who was talking to her.

I was getting ready to go for a walk wanting to leave the love birds alone when I saw a movement above us on rock face and decided to check it out.

I climbed up the cliff and found the handsome guy from earlier standing at the top.

"Miss me that much? Or do you just want to make sure I keep my promise?"

I teased with a grin and a raised eyebrow as I stood up and brushed off my hands.

"You are a very strange woman." He said as he watched me carefully,

"Thanks. I do try. So what's your name?" I asked.

He gave me an odd look but answered,

"Ardeth Bay, leader of the Medjai. And your name?"

I smiled, "My name is Anta, but I go by ella." I said.

"Anta, the goddess of war." Ardeth said,

"Yes that is the meaning of my first name." I replied, slightly surprised that he knew the meaning of it, most people didn't.

"Why do you go by Ella?" Ardeth asked interested.

"It's a nickname from my middle name Aella. It means whirlwind and in Greek myth's Aella is the name of a very skilled female warrior who used double bladed axes to fight." I replied wondering why he was curious in my names.

"And what is your last name?" Ardeth asked.

"I have no last name." I replied firmly, wanting to put an end to this discussion.

"Anyway Ardeth I do believe I made a promise and I don't intend to start breaking my promise's now." I said with a sly grin on my face as I stepped closer to him.

My boldness caught him off guard and I kissed him gently before stepping away,

"Now let's talk, I want to know the person I'm starting to think of spending a lot of time with." I said with a grin.

We sat side by side and talked about our different upbringings I was surprised to see the sun was already starting to rise. I knew that Evy was normally an early riser and she would worry if she didn't see me in my bed roll.

"I have to leave, hopefully I'll see you again sometime." I told Ardeth,

"Tonight at the same time and place if you all have not left by then." Ardeth said.

I grinned at the quickness of his response,

"See you tonight." I said turning to leave before I gave a mental shrug and turned back around grabbing his shoulder turning him towards me as he had started to turn away.

Pulling his head down I let my fingernails drag gently along his scalp as I pulled his head towards mine and kissed him.

Licking his lips I nipped his bottom lip before sucking on it to sooth any pain, I felt his hands go around my waist pulling me closer to him as he began to return my kiss.

Pulling back only when we had run out of air we stared at each other before I planted a quick kiss on his lips and turned beginning my climb back down the cliff.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

I fell into my bed roll exhausted and fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit my pillow. Waking up to someone shrugging my shoulder I peered upwards as a yawn erupted from me.

I was surprised that it was Jon not Evy and took a quick, albeit bleary look around our small camp showed me that Evy was still sleeping.

"Yeah Jon?" I asked sitting up and rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands to get rid of my sleepiness.

"Rick and I have to go take care of business and we didn't want to leave you two unprotected." Jon said.

I nodded my understanding even as another large yawn took over my mouth, stretching I stood up as Jon and Rick walked off.

After a few more stretches I reached down and shook out my bed roll before rolling it back up and placing it down beside my duffel bag.

Evy woke up after I had sat down next to the fire, putting my swords on my back and was re-cleaning all my throwing knives..

After drinking some water Evy and I went together to find a hidden spot to do our business and I found it the perfect opportunity to tease her.

"Well someone must have been up late last night. You haven't slept pass the sun-rise in years." I said nudging her with my elbow gently.

"Oh, be quiet you." Evy said blushing as she gently shoved me back, causing me to chuckle at her embarrassment.

After we did our business and cleaned our hands off as good as we could we went back to Jon and Rick who had returned and made breakfast.

After we ate we went below and finally opened the sarcophagus only to find a coffin within it. I helped Rick and Jon carefully lift the coffin out and set it up right as Evy excitedly watched,

"Oh I've dreamed about this moment since I was a little girl!" She exclaimed happily.

"You dream about dead guys?" Rick asked with a raised eyebrow.

I smirked as Evy ignored him, "Oh look the sacred spells have been chiseled off. This man must have been condemned not only in this life but in the next."

"Tough break." Rick and I said sarcastically at the same time to our surprise.

Jon spoke up as he put the key into the coffin, "Yeah I'm all in tears...now lets see who's inside shall we?"

I stepped back as Jon and Rick started to pull the lid off, watching the lid fly off with interest I leaned forward wanting to know what was in it.

Immediately Rick, Jon and Evy all shouted as the mummy fell forward in the coffin while I involuntarily jumped backwards.

Evy smacked me in the arm for laughing which I couldn't help but do at their reaction after I got over my quick shock.

"Oh I hate it when they do that!" Evy exclaimed.

"They do that often?" I muttered quietly my eyebrow twitching up involuntarily at Evy's statement.

"Is he suppose too look like that?" Rick asked.

"No I've never seen a mummy look like this before..." Evy replied, as she tried to continue, "He's still.. still-"

Rick, Jon and I spoke at the same time, "Juicy."

"Yes, he must be more then three thousand years old and it looks as if he's still…decomposing." Evy said as she looked over the mummy.

Rick nodded and looked away from the mummy only to have something catch his eyes,

"Hey look at that." Rick said pointing to the coffin lid where it was laying where Rick and Jon had dropped it upon being surprised by the mummy's lurch out of the coffin.

We all went over to it and saw something scratched into the inside of the lid.

"What do you make of this?" Rick asked as he pointed to the marks.

"These marks were made by...fingernails." I said mimicking the scratches with my own hands as I continued to speak my thoughts,

"This man was buried alive, and he left a message." I said pointing to the words that Evy read out-loud,

"Death is only the beginning."

We all looked over the mummy as soon as Evy got done reading the inscription left by the decaying corpse, like it was going to come to life and try to kill us.

The wind picked up and it sounded like multiple people whispering, as we all stared at the creepy mummy in silence.

That night as soon as the sun left the sky, I left Jon, Evy and Rick with the excuse that I was going to look around a bit and climbed up the rock face wondering if Ardeth was already there. He was.

I smiled and walked over to him, he met me halfway and what I had planed to be a quick greeting kiss became a long make out session to my surprise and pleasure.

After we finally pulled back we sat down at the edge of the rock face and began to talk about tattoos as he had several on his face and I was curious as to the meaning behind them as he was curious about the tattoos on me that he could see.

It wasn't but three hours later when I felt the wind pickup and heard a voice hollering from the campsite, immediately I stood up.

"I have to go." I told Ardeth seriously as I started to turn to start my climb down the rock face.

"No! Wait, you could be in danger if you go down there now." Ardeth said as he clasped my arm in an attempt to hold me back.

"That maybe, but Evy, Jon and Rick are down there and I will not let them face whatever is happening without me." I said firmly, having no idea what was going to happen next.

I could see that he didn't want to let me go but I pulled my arm out of his grasp and gave him a blistering kiss before I turned and hurried down to our small camp sight.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

I hurried down the rock face and into camp just in time to see a black swarm of something coming towards the camp site at an alarming speed.

Turning I saw Evy, Jon and Rick just standing there staring at the swarm before common sense kicked in and they turned to run. Evy saw me and motioned for me to run towards them,

"Ella this way! Hurry!"

As she, Jon, Rick, the American's and their helpers were now running in the same direction.

I stopped by my bed-roll to grab my duffel bag and then took off running as the black swarm grew rapidly closer. I caught up with Evy, Jon and Rick just as they were entering the tomb and we stuck together as we ran through the tunnels.

We turned down yet another tunnel when the ground shook and began to rise, we all backed away from it a bit looking at it curiously until it burst open and thousands of scarabs came pouring out of it. We all backed up and began to run the way we had come, I heard Rick hollering at us to keep running and would have smacked him upside the head if I had the time.

 _"Honestly what does he think we are going to do. Stop and ask the scarabs to kindly not eat our flesh?!"_ I thought getting annoyed as we ran for our lives.

Just then we came to a narrow bridge like structure off to the left side there was several large smooth stone's that was separated from the bridge Jon, Rick and I jumped over onto it. I turned ready to help Evy only to see that she had chosen to hide in a small alcove on the opposite side of the bridge.

There was nothing I could do but watch and hope that the scarabs didn't stray from the bridge as they noisily ran along. A few tense seconds and all of us were breathing sighs of relief as the scarabs continued along the bridge and down one of the tunnels at the other end not straying from their focused path. I had turned my eyes onto the scarabs to make sure they left and was dismayed when I looked up and found that Evy had disappeared.

Jon, Rick and I exchanged glances before we all began to call for her, she didn't reply to our calls so we jumped from the stone we were on back onto the narrow bridge and over to the alcove that Evy had been hiding in. Rick began to pound on it with the backend of his shotgun while I looked for a hidden lever and Jon held the torch. Rick swore,

"It has to be a trap door, there must be a switch or lever or stone that push's inward." I said knowing Evy wouldn't just run off on her own.

I used my hands to try and find the lever when the American's came running down the tunnels that the scarabs had taken not all that long ago.

The American's were screaming and one hollered at us to run, we didn't hesitated to jump into the small group of running bodies as we were once again racing against the scarabs. We all just cleared the bridge and were at the bottom of the small room when one of the American's Egyptian worker's fell. He screamed and Rick and I turned to help him up when the scarabs swept down over the man like a blanket, they didn't stop but his voice did as his skeletal remains and clothing were all that was left of him within seconds.

Immediately Rick and I turned towards Jon who was waiting for us just a foot from where we were,

"Go! GO!" Rick hollered motioning for Jon to start running again as we all took off racing down multiple tunnels. As we passed one I glanced into the room which was lit up by the full moon and saw Evy.

"Evy!" I immediately called out running into the room Rick was right behind me and he spoke while running over to her.

"There you are. Will you quit playing hide-and-seek? Come on, let's get out of here!" As Rick spoke I had grabbed onto Evy's left arm and was turning to face the entrance that Jon now waited at when my eye's landed on a site that made my blood run cold.

When neither Evy nor I started to follow Rick as he tried to pull Evy after him he turned his gaze in the location that Evy and I were fixed on.

"WHOA!" He hollered.

At that precise moment Jon came running into the room holding his torch hollering,

"Evy!" Before his eyes landed on the living mummified corpse that was standing in the middle of the room, he hollered and dropped his torch in surprise as he stepped backwards. Two of the American's must have been following Jon as they came up right behind him and stopped and stared at the mummy in shock and horror as well. The mummy seemed to grow angry at all of the interruptions in whatever he or she had been planning on doing so he let out a roaring scream that sent my heart into overdrive.

Evy leaned backwards into me as she gave a small scream of shock and disbelief while Rick still full of surprise and disbelief gave the mummy an answering roar and lifted up his shotgun and fired causing the mummy to give a strange warbling cry before it fell. Immediately I began to tug Evy after me as I ran away from the creature, Rick was right behind us and after mustering up some quick courage Jon, and the two Americans ran past the mummy to follow us. Jon was hollering in disbelief,

"Did you see that?! It was walking!" To the two Americans as we continued our run.

I led us out into the desert again where we were met with the Medjia training their gun's on us. We all slowed down to an immediate halt, I pulled Evy a little behind me as I stared down Ardeth, whom I knew was the leader in the middle of the group of warriors even though they all had their face coverings up. The one American whom I had wanted to punch a few days ago for his arrogance was cowering at their feet clutching a large black book. The sight of the book caused me to feel dizzy and disorientated, I knew that book from somewhere and the memories that it came with the sight of the book were unpleasant.

I clutched Evy's hand tight and closed my eyes trying to regain the breath that felt like it had been knocked out of me, I heard Ardeth and Rick's voice and sometime later one of the American's voice but I couldn't make out the words as memories of the blood, fear and deep demanding voice's asking me about the Book of the Dead and where it was. I had only been six when it had happened, a group of strange men who had wanted to unleash chaos onto the world had been searching for that book. However they couldn't translate the hieroglyphics correctly, I had laughed at them and told them that. The mocking of a six year old girl seemed to be more than they could bare and they came after me, however using my agility and speed I managed to escape them. For the next two weeks I found them and provoked them before out running them again however they were prepared for me the final time.

In retaliation they had kidnapped me and held me in a room in a sewer and tortured me when I refused to tell them what the scroll said having been sworn to secrecy by the headmistress of the orphanage I had been living in at that time. She had made me swear to never tell the secrets that I somehow knew about the Book of the Dead and the Book of the Living, she said that my strangely intimate knowledge of them would cause the end of all things to come. She was always somewhat afraid of me because of my cat like reflexives and I heard her whisper to one of the cooks that my eyes shown in the dark like a demons on nights with the full moon. The men had used knives, sticks, hot pokers, water boarding and their fist's to punish me every time I refused to translate the scroll for them.

All of the sudden I was jerked out of my thoughts as I felt Evy pulling me along and it was all I could do to make my legs move and follow after her. As I got up on my camel I blocked out the world around me, trying to push those painful memories which still haunted me into the small locked box in the back of my mind where I had been keeping them. The next thing I knew I was waking up in Evy's bed while she and Rick were arguing. I ignored their voice's choosing to focus on clearing the cobwebs in my head and trying to get rid of the nightmarish memories that had besieged me while I had slept.

I quietly slunk out of Evy's room and downstairs I made my way over to the bar and after ordering myself several drinks and a meal I pointed to the table I planned to sit at. The guy behind the bar nodded and I made my way over to the table and sat down, slouching in the seat my back to the bar as I waited for my drinks and food.

After I finished my meal and the last shot of Scotch I laid my head on the cool table and closed my eyes for what I thought was only a minute. However when I opened them again the world around me was in chaos, unsure of what was going on I ran to Evy's room and got there just in time to hear Rick say,

"We are in serious trouble."

Evy seeing my confusion told me about everything that had happened while I had slept as we all made our way to the Museum where she worked. She was confident that her boss would know what to do to stop the Mummy from completing his curse. I was silently freaking out as I realized that some of the things that were now set into motion were things that I had known about for as long as I could remember. I asked about my swords and duffel bag and Evy pulled them out from under her bed and gave them to me. I quickly put them on having felt almost naked without them.

As we all headed to the car I stopped Evy along the way and told her about Ardeth. She was happy for me and promised to keep it a secret since I wasn't sure if Ardeth thought of it as a relationship. I then congratulated her on finally finding her man, she shyly laughed and I gently teased her about finding him in a prison no less. She laughed and for a minute the worry about what was going on in the world around us then Jon hollered at us to hurry up and get in the car and we exchanged glances before rushing to the car.

As soon as we entered the Museum a wave of dizziness swept over me so I motioned for the others to go ahead while I pretended to need to use the bathroom to keep Evy from worrying. After a minute the dizziness passed and I followed in the direction the others had went in. The two American's that I now knew were called Henderson and Daniels were sitting in chairs on the left side while Rick was sitting in another chair on the right with his foot propped up on something. Evy was standing next to him and Jon was leaning across the back of what looked to be a replica of an old Egyptian carriage.

To my surprise Ardeth was leaning against the carriage and although I knew that there was someone else in the room my gaze stayed on Ardeth who was now returning my stare with surprise and what looked like relief in his eyes. When I finally pulled my gaze away from Ardeth I looked at the other person in the room, the only one I didn't know and felt the blood drain from my face. I knew him, this guy he had aged and now had a beard but there was no mistaking that face.

"la… Ella!" Evy's voice hollered my name causing me to jerk back to the present where I found myself overtop of the man a knife to his throat as my other hand held his arms down my teeth were bared. It was only then that when I was boring into his eyes with my own did I realize that though this man looked exactly like the man from my past his eyes told a different story. I pulled my knife from his neck and tilted my head studying him,

"المجموعة أريد أن أتحدث إليكم في أقرب وقت عمله الخاص بك يتحدث إلى هذه." I said before standing up and going to stand by the entrance to the room, keeping my gaze solely fixed on him.

Everyone kept an eye on me after that however I ignored all of them and focused my complete attention on him as they conversed. Whenever everyone left except for Ardeth and him I walked over to him as he watched me warily.

"You have a twin brother." I said, stating it as a fact and challenging him to deny it.

"Yes I do however I have not talked to him for many years." He said.

I watched him carefully as he answered and felt that he was telling the truth.

"My name is Anta Aella. I have met your twin brother before. What is your name?" I asked.

"My name is Doctor Terrance Bay." He said. My mind immediately connected the dots,

"Your Ardeth's uncle." I stated, Doctor Bay's eyes widened in surprise before settling back down as he replied,

"Why yes I am." I nodded in reply and then turned my attention to Ardeth who was watching our interaction.

"Hello Ardeth, It's good to see you again." I said with a smile, not knowing how comfortable with our 'relationship' or whatever it was so I didn't approach him. He however had no such qualms and he strolled over to me and caught me in his arms in a tight hug which after a second of surprised hesitation I returned. Then he pulled back and I could see the question in his face which I answered by cupping his face in my left hand and sliding my right hand through his silky black hair to slide my nails against his scalp gently as I pulled him down into a deep kiss.

I heard someone clearing their throat behind us however I ignored them as we kissed until we had to pull back for air.

"لقد غاب لك." I said, my voice slightly husky as I placed a gentle kiss on Ardeth's jawline, neck and ear before pulling away fully to keep myself from forgetting about everything but him.

"I have missed you also حبيبتى." Ardeth whispered into my ear as he placed a soft kiss on the outer shell of my ear causing me to shiver as his warm breath blew against my body.

Doctor Bay cleared his throat again and reluctantly I turned my gaze on him, "Sorry to interrupt but how do you know my twin brother? He is no longer apart of the Medjia and I haven't seen him in twenty years." Doctor Bay said.

I pulled fully away from Ardeth as the memories once again passed in front of my mind's eye.

"We met years ago, I was only six. He and his 'friends' left an impression." I said struggling to keep my voice un-broken and emotionless. Fortunetly before we could continue our conversation one of the museum staff knocked on the door and needed to speak with Doctor Bay. When he left Ardeth and I decided to read through the library and see if there was a way to get rid of Imhotep once and for all. The time seemed to fly by and after searching through dozens of books and coming up empty Ardeth and I decided to stop for a cup of tea.

We had just sat down and started drinking our tea when we heard voices, one which I could distinguish as Evy's voice echoing down the hall. We shared a glance and with a sigh set down our cups and stood back before walking out to great Evy, Jon and Rick. I was surprised to see only one American was with them this time and surmised why they were here almost immediately Evy was talking to Doctor Bay so I went over to Jon to get caught up on what had happened while we had been separated.

Evy and Doctor Bay must have figured something out as they headed towards the stairs, Doctor Bay leading the way. I stayed behind to quickly close and lock the museum doors as Ardeth caught up to Doctor Bay and started walking beside him at the front of the small group. When I was done locking the museum door I quickly caught up and started walking beside Jon, Evy's voice catching my attention.

"Yes well according to legend, the black book found at Hamunaptra is suppose to bring people back from the dead. Until now it was a notion I was un-willing to believe." Evy said.

"Well believe it sister that's what brought our buddy back to life." Rick replied as we continued up the steps.

"Yes, and I'm thinking that if the black book could bring dead people to life then-" Rick cut her off as he finished her sentence,

"-Then maybe the gold book can kill them."

"That's the myth. Now we just have to find out where the gold book is hidden." Evy said as we finally reached the top of the steps and started walking towards a large stone with Egyptian hieroglyphs on it. Suddenly a loud noise outside of the museum caught everyone's attention and we all turned towards it with no small amount of dread, as we listened the noise became clear. It was hundreds of voice's chanting together. Evy started towards a large circular window and we all followed behind her.

I came over and stood beside Ardeth who grasped my left hand in his right hand as the words the people were chanting becoming clear as we looked down on them. They were chanting Imhotep names and looked to be in a trance of some kind as they walked towards the outside of the museum, many of them holding torch's and others were holding things that could be classified as weapons.

"Last but not least my favorite plague, boils and sores." Jon said as we all stared down at the gathering crowd.

Ardeth spoke up, "They have become his slaves. So it has begun. The beginning of the end."

Ardeth and I shared a glace as he said this. He had told me what would happen if the creature regained his full strength while we had been looking for help in the library. Evy spoke up then her voice filled with confidence,

"Not quiet yet it hasn't, come on." She said as she turned away from the window and walked in the direction of the large stone coming to a stop in front of it. I felt a bit nervous about speaking up but I knew that time was of the essence so after squeezing Ardeth's hand for strength and comfort I spoke up.

"The gold book, the book of the living, is at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus." I said to Ardeth in our native tongue so only Doctor Bay, Ardeth and myself knew what I was saying.

Both Ardeth and Doctor Bay turned their attention to me in surprise,

"I … I know a bit about the books." I said with a shrug trying not to let their stares get to me. Doctor Bay spoke up in his native tongue,

"When you met up with my brother did he ask you about the books?" I rubbed the back of my neck with my right hand in my discomfort as Ardeth was still holding my left.

"Yes." I answered, thankfully that was all the time we had as the doors to the museum broke open and Imhotep's slaves ran into the museum. Their loud cheers causing all of us to refocus our attention on them and what was at hand, during all of this Evy was still deciphering the hieroglyphics to try and find out where the Gold book was.

"Patience is a virtue." I heard Evy say as Rick, Ardeth and I watched the oncoming swarm of Imhotep slaves start coming up the long winding stairs.

"Not right now it isn't." Rick said in reply.

"I think I'll get the car started." Jon said as he turned and high-tailed it out of there. I turned my attention back to the ever nearing danger only keeping half an ear on what was going on behind me. I heard Evy exclaim in happiness behind me as I spoke to Ardeth,

"We need to leave now! I don't want to kill more of these people then I have to." Ardeth nodded in agreement and we turned towards the other four.

"I agree with you two." Doctor Bay said in English causing the other three to give us curious looks however I felt a tingle on the back of my neck and reacted automatically. Shoving Ardeth away and releasing his hand which had been holding my own as I grabbed one of swords from off my back and blocked the incoming pitch-fork causing it to stop mid-air and then fall below, sticking into some poor slave's foot causing him to holler in pain.

"We need to move now!" I hollered in English making a hand gesture to get everyone to start running in the same direction that Jon had ran in.

The American was first in line as we rounded the bushes outside of the museum and ran towards the car which Jon had just revved up.

"Let's go, Let's go, Let's go!" The American hollered as he ran towards the car ahead of the rest of us. He said something else but I wasn't paying attention to him so much as the bunch of slaves that were chasing us. Jon turned the car towards us and started hollering,

"Evy, Ella come on, hurry up!" As he opened the passenger car door for Evy whom Rick helped into the seat before climbing in after her and shutting the door. Beni the worm of a guy from the desert came to the front of the museum doors and after seeing us began to holler for Imhotep.

I ignored him as I climbed into the back seat after Ardeth and settled on Ardeth's lap as there wasn't enough room for me to sit anywhere else since the American and Doctor Bay were also in the back seat with us.

"Your gonna get your's Beni you here me? Your gonna get yours!" Rick hollered as Jon pulled away from the museum just in time as a large group of slaves came running down to where we had just been sitting. As Jon drove away Rick sat down in the passenger seat beside Evy while Ardeth wrapped his arms around my waist holding me firmly against his chest.

All of the sudden Jon came to a stop causing me to snap my head around to the front as I had been watching for anyone creeping up behind us. There in front of us was another large group of slaves, these one's were different than the ones that had been at the museum. For almost a minute there was silence and it was a standoff, then that minute was over as Rick used his own foot to stop down on the gas pedal which Jon had been holding a foot uncertainly over. Jon hollered in pain and surprise as the car lurched forwards, out of the corner of my eye I saw the American starting to fall backwards at the suddenness so I grabbed his closest arm and gave him a firm pull forward.

As soon as the car started moving the slaves did to and within seconds we were running into and over slaves that tried to stop us.

"Hang on!" Rick hollered as the car continued to plow forwards.

At least a dozen managed to make it onto the car and we began to punch them to get them off. I was busy head butting a guy while Ardeth who had stood up was busy with someone else when I heard the American holler for Rick and I saw two guys dragging him out of the car and I jumped forward bringing out one of my swords and cutting off one of the guy's arms while using my other hand to grab and hold onto the Americans legs, bracing my feet against the bottom of the car seats.

The American managed to get the other guy off of him and knowing that in extremely close combat a sword was more of a hindrance I put my sword away still bloody and began to use both arms to pull the American back into the car. I wasn't expecting one of the slaves to jump onto my back and start slashing it with a knife.

I hollered out in surprise and pain almost letting go of the American. When the slave dug into my back again with the blade of his small knife I let go of the American with one hand and tried to grab the slave on my back. As soon as I had let go with my one hand the slave on my back jumped forward grabbing onto the American causing him to be ripped from my grasp. I cursed a blue streak in Korean but I didn't have time to do anything else as two slaves started to beat up Doctor Bay who was sitting on my other side. I grabbed one of their arms and gave them an uppercut while Doctor Bay finished off the other one.

There was no time to rest however as Jon crashed into a water fountain and we all had to quickly abandon the car. Slaves began to encircle us as they blocked off all of our exits. Rick somehow had managed to get a hold of a torch and was using it to fend off the slaves like they were rabid dogs. Knowing what would be coming next I un-sheathed both of my swords and held them at the ready. I wasn't going go down without a fight, Evy, Jon, Ardeth, Rick and Doctor Bay all deserved to live a long full life and I wasn't about to let their lives or my own be snuffed out so soon. The slaves began to call for Imhotep and soon they began to part their voice's quieting down.

We all laid eyes on the same person at the same time but Doctor Bay is the one who spoke up first,

"It's the creature. He is fully regenerated."

We all stayed quiet as we watched him approach, I felt my grip on my swords tighten as he got closer, Beni the little worm was walking closely behind him. Then Imhotep began to speak,

"Come with me my princess it is time to make you mine for all eternity." He said then Beni translated it to English,

"Come vith me my princess, it is time to make you mine forever." Both Evy and I scoffed at his translation, however Evy was the one who corrected him,

"For all eternity you idiot."

Imhotep began to speak again, "Take my hand and I will spare your friends." He said which Beni once again translated into English.

"Oh dear…Have you got any bright ideas?" Evy asked Rick who was standing beside her.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Rick muttered in reply.

"Well you best think of something fast, because if he turns me into a mummy you're the first one I'm coming after." Evy said. Rick stared at her as did I, I had a feeling that neither of us was going to like what she did next. Sure enough Evy started to approach Imhotep, Rick immediately un-holstered a gun while saying,

"No."

"NO!" Ardeth said.

"Don't!" Evy said while Ardeth grabbed a hold of Ricks' gun and tried to force it down.

"He must first take me to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual." Evy said. Ardeth spoke up agreeing with her,

"She's right. Live today, fight tomorrow." Ardeth said.

I felt sick to my stomach as I watched the creature stare at us, triumph seeming to ooze out of its pores. Rick put away his gun giving in to Ardeth's persuasion, Evy and Rick shared a short but meaningful look before Rick turned his attention to Imhotep,

"I'll be seeing you again." Rick said his words full of malicious. The creature smirked and turned away from us. I had unconsciously returned my swords to their sheaths after Ardeth's persuasion to have Rick put his gun away and I was feeling that that was the wrong move.

The creature and Evy stared to walk away, Evy still gazing at Rick even as she moved with the creature. Rick jerked in Ardeth's grasp and called out,

"Evelyn."

I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned towards it pulling one of my throwing knives out of their places to see Beni searching Jon's shirt pockets.

"Hey that's mine!" Jon said as Beni pulled out the key.

"Thank you." Beni said with a smile, I nearly slit his throat then, only the fact that I had more than myself to worry about and I was currently injured kept me from doing so.

"Kill them all!" The creature hollered as he walked further into the crowd of slaves, Evy started to holler,

"NO! Let go of me! Let go of me!" As she tried to return but the creature kept a firm grasp on her arm as the crowd began to fall back into place behind the creature and steadily come nearer. I had been searching for a way out when I sat the sewer hole several feet behind and below us as well as some drums of oil behind us,

"Goodbye my friend." Beni said to Rick before running off, as soon as he left I called out softly,

"Rick below us." Everyone looked down as I started to life the cover off of the sewage tunnel. The crowd continued to grow closer, chanting Imhotep over and over again as I grabbed Jon and shoved him down the sewage hole first then Rick whom I grabbed the torch off of then Ardeth whom I kissed before I shoved down the hole. Doctor Bay started to pull out his sword and I knew what he was planning to do.

"Oh no you don't, Live today, fight tomorrow." I said as I grabbed him and tossed him down the hole as well I grabbed the cover and started to drag it back over the hole.

I pulled off my large outer shirt and dropped it on-top of the cover before throwing the torch at the oil drums which were only three feet behind me before I dropped down the hole and finished shutting the cover from below. I heard the explosion and felt the cover heat up, burning my palms a bit before I yanked them away from the cover and dropped down into the sewer. Immediately I felt Ardeth's scent engulf me as he pulled me into his arms tightly. I felt an unintentional whimper escape my lips as his one arm pressed against one of the wounds the slave had put on my back.

There was no light but I remembered there being a lantern behind the ladder steps, I told the others that as I felt behind the ladder steps and sure enough there was one. We got it lit and I handed it to Rick who seemed to know the sewer tunnels just as well as I did. However when I handed Rick the lantern I had to turn my back on Ardeth who made a noise of surprise upon seeing my back, which I had forgotten was almost completely exposed as I was only wearing a tank-top which I had turned around because the front seemed to expose way to much of my chest. However now it was exposing my back tattoo which I had gotten as a way to try and cover up all of my scars, as well as my wounds.

"We need to move out now. Rick can you take the lead?" I asked Rick who was in front of me so he didn't see the blood that felt like it was covering my lower back, nor my tattoo.

"Yeah, come on Jon." Rick said to Jon who was standing right beside him.

The two of them started walking, Doctor Bay following close behind. I started to walk after them but Ardeth grabbed a hold of my arm stopping me.

"Let me take care of your wounds first." He said gently touching my back, causing a shiver to run up and down my spine.

"Okay." I said softly. He quickly but expertly bandaged my wounds not having anything to clean them out with then we started walking towards the other three who were now waiting for us at a cross-way of tunnels. Ardeth grabbed my hand and tugged me around towards him.

I raised my eyes to meet his wondering what he wanted when I felt a warm cloth fall over my shoulders.

"I don't want anyone else to lay their eyes on you." He whispered into my ear. I couldn't stop myself from reaching up and kissing him, I almost didn't stop until I remembered Evy. Then I pulled away and as we caught our breath I whispered something into his ear before I bit his ear lobe gently and tugged the bottom with my teeth before turning and walking towards the other three guys. Pulling his outer shirt which he had given me on properly, rolling up the extra length and tying it off to the left side so it was out of my way.

As we walked through the tunnels Ardeth was walking beside me and had caught my hand in his own but there was no more speaking. When we finally made it out of the tunnels Rick spoke,

"I have a friend who can help us get to Hamunaptra in a few hours." It was with un-spoken agreement that we shouldn't stop for long however we needed to get some rest until morning so Jon, Rick and I got a room at a hotel while Ardeth and Doctor Bay went to Doctor Bay's house. I took a bath washing my clothes first, including Ardeth's shirt and setting them by the fire to dry.

After I scrubbed all of the dirt, sewage, sweat and blood off of me and out of my hair which I was thankful I kept short I quickly dried off and pulled on the damp clothes. I had my underclothes and my pants back on however my shoes, socks and Ardeth's shirt were still not on when I heard a knock at the door. I peeked out and seeing that it was Ardeth holding something I let him in. He had brought ointment for my back and fresh wraps which he put on them.

"Why don't you take a quick bath while you're here Ardeth?" I said as looked at him from over my shoulder as he gently put the ointment on with his hands which he had washed in the sink. His answer was a kiss on the back of my right shoulder blade.

SEVEN HOURS LATER:

Ardeth and I woke up to the knock at my hotel room door,

"Ella get up. Rick and I are going to get a car." Jon said from the door. I looked over at Ardeth and gave him a sleepy smile,

"Guess we have to get up now." I said as I sat up and stretched before rolling over to get out of bed.

"At least we got some sleep." Ardeth joked back. While Rick and Jon were securing another ride, Ardeth and Doctor Bay went to grab us some food while I cleaned and sharpened my swords and knives. Ardeth came back just in time to see Jon and Rick finally convince a guy to let them use his car, they used almost all of their cash to do so, however I didn't see Doctor Bay.

"Your uncle?" I asked Ardeth as I leaned against his chest while we watched Rick fill the car up with gas while Jon put in the bag of food that Ardeth and his uncle had bought for us on our trip.

"He is going to do what he can for the people here." Ardeth said. I nodded and then we all piled into the car, eating on the way as Rick drove like a maniac.

There wasn't a lot of conversation as Jon drove while Rick directed and we all finished eating, we pulled up a barrier bar. As a kid lifted it two others one's stood by a huge sign that read 'Royal Air Force Giza' on it. The two by the sign saluted us as we drove past, Jon waved to them in reply as we past them. A single plane sat in the airfield. Jon parked the car and we all began to trek to where a chubby older man sat underneath of a giant red umbrella that was being held by an Egyptian worker. We could all hear the music being played as we made our way through the sand along the trail that had been made when the two men went out to that place. Rick was in the lead, then Jon, Ardeth and myself.

"Morning Winston. Uh…a word?" Rick said as we got closer.

When we were finally standing in front of Winston who looked to be an older chubby proper Englishman Rick explained why we were there.

"And what's your little problem got to do with his Majesty's Royal Air Court?" Winston asked.

"Not a dang thing." Rick replied, at this Winston placed his tea cup back on the plate and set it on the small circular table beside him. His full attention on Rick,

"Is it dangerous?" Winston asked seeming to be excited about the prospect of it being so,

"Well you probably won't live through it." Rick replied straight-faced.

"By jove! Do you really think so?" Winston asked almost hopefully.

"Well everyone else we've bumped into has died. Why not you?" Jon replied.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing as Ardeth raised an eyebrow at Jon's statement and Rick nodded in agreement.

"What's the uh, what's the challenge then?" Winston asked as he stood up.

"Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world." Rick replied. Winston laughed happily at this news.

"Winston Havlock at your service Sir." Winston said while saluting Rick and laughing some more. After knowing that this Winston fellow was going to help us out I immediately took a closer look at his plane which was a two seater. I sized up the plane to see where I was going to fit ruling out the actual seats because Winston was of course going to be flying the plane and Rick was no doubt going to be in the plane seat as well so that left the wings. We decided that Jon and I would be on the same wing however Jon would be closer to the plane since I was taller and would be better to balance out Ardeth's weight on the other plane wing.

As we were flying I couldn't help but laugh in joy as I wondered why I hadn't tried flying in such a way before. Jon however looked terrified. Rick whistled to get our attention and asked if we were alright, I gave him a thumbs up while Jon hollered,

"Do I bloody look alright?!" I laughed at Jon's reply while I watched the sand seem to fly past below us. Sand that not ten minutes later I was covered in as Winston's plane crashed. When we hit the sand I took a couple of seconds to make sure I was in working order before I used one of my knives to cut the ropes that were holding me onto the wing of the plane. I pulled of the brown leather 'helmet' type of hat and the goggles that Winston had insisted that we all ware before turning to look and make sure everyone else had gotten out alright.

I saw Ardeth and Rick were fine so I turned my attention back to Jon was twisted around the wing to where he couldn't see me,

"Excuse me,um.. a little help would be useful if it's not too much trouble!" Jon's voice started going up at the end and he was shouting. I laughed and walked over to him,

"Yeah yeah all right." I said as I cut the ropes and helped him stand up. We circled the plane and stood next to Rick and Ardeth, the latter which gave me a quick look over to make sure I was okay as his hands were full of the machine gun which he had taken off of the back of the plane.

"Winston! Hey Winston!" Rick said as he started walking towards his friend who hadn't moved since we landed. I saw the smile on Winston's face and knew even as Rick moved to check Winston's pulse that he wasn't going to find it. Winston was dead going down like the hero he was.

Rick looked back at us with a somewhat saddened expression when all of the sudden the plane started to move, getting sucked down into the sand. I grabbed onto Jon who grabbed onto Rick as I pulled them away from the quicksand.

"Quicksand get back!" Jon said as we all moved away from the sinking plane. As we watched the plane sink Rick gave his old friend a final salute and then we were on the move, heading towards Hamunaptra. We found one of the room's caved in and immediately started removing the rock's from the door, well at least Rick, Ardeth and myself did. Jon held a torch while another one was lit beside Ardeth, Jon gave us 'advice' on how to remove the rocks which got him a death glare from all three of us.

As the three of us continued to remove the rocks I heard Jon say,

"I say you guys should come and have a look at this." I sighed and turned, knowing Jon he was about to do or say something really stupid. I opened my mouth to ask what we wanted when I saw a scarab burrow into his hand. I immediately grabbed one of my knives and rushed to Jon grabbing his arm as he screamed while the scarab crawled up his arm from underneath his skin.

"What?!" Rick asked as he and Ardeth turned towards us. Jon kept hollering muttering incoherent words as I spoke up trying to hold him still.

"There's a scarab crawling up his arm, Ardeth help me hold him still. Rick use this to pop it out with." I said as I grabbed Jon's shirt and ripped it open so Rick could see the outline of the scarab that was moving up Jon's arm.

Rick popped the scarab out of Jon's arm and it went flying several feet away, it turned around and started to run back towards Jon so Rick pulled out a gun and shot it.

"There goes our surprise entrance." I thought before brushing that out of my mind as I used one of the rag's Ardeth had brought for me to clean up and bandage Jon's cut. We continued to dig and finally moved enough rocks to get through before continuing on our way to find the statue of Horus. As we entered into a small shaft Rick through his torch threw the narrow crack and then his duffel bag before finally going through himself.

Ardeth went next, then Jon and I went through last I grabbed a torch off of the wall and used the torch that Rick had thrown through the crack to lit it before handing it to Jon. Then we walked over to Rick and Ardeth just in time to see Rick shoot a mirror causing it to tilt which caused a chain reaction to the entire room was lit up.

I blinked rapidly several times and then shrugged it off as another thing that seemed to happen in the world that I was now aware of when I saw that we were in the treasure room that was untouched and overflowing with gold and jewels. I looked over at Jon and saw his mouth gapping like a fish's, I grinned at the sight before looking back at all of the treasure. Rick led the way down the stairs with Jon and Ardeth following directly behind him and then me following behind them. As we walked through a row of golden statue's Jon spoke up, "Can you see..?" Rick replied, "Yeah."

"Can you believe..?" Jon asked to which Rick again replied, "Yeah."

"Can we just..?" Jon started to ask and Rick answered him again, "No."

I bit my lip to keep my laughter inside at their dialogue and then something glimmered in the corner of my eye, I turned my head in that direction and felt something mentally calling out to me. I wasn't aware of anything else around me as I reached over and took the small golden chain which held a lioness with sapphire's in place of eyes and the solar disk earring, upright cobra earring and the Eye of Ra earring as well as the four earrings which were hieroglyphs that spelled out the name Sekhmet, all of them had been placed on a white pillow with deep blue trim. As soon as I had them in my hand I felt something whisper that it wasn't time yet, so instead of putting them on as I wanted to I shoved them into the inner pocket of the shirt Ardeth had given me.

As soon as I lifted my hand out of the pocket everything around me came back into focus and sound and I saw several mummified corpse coming towards Jon, Rick and Ardeth with more still pulling themselves out of the sand. I immediately walked behind Ardeth ready to pull out my swords. Rick or Jon must have asked something because Ardeth spoke up,

"Priests. Imhotep's priests."

"Alright then." Rick said before he unloaded his shotgun into the reanimated corpses. Ardeth then started with the machine gun and even Jon got into it, grabbing two of Rick's pistols and using them. I was better at close combat and although I did have many throwing swords a single knife no matter how well placed was not going to kill the already living dead.

I saw some more mummies closing in on us from another side and tugged on the back of Rick's shirt as he was closest,

"There's more coming from the right we need to move now!" I said. I grabbed a hold of Jon and pulled him along with me while Rick and Ardeth ran ahead with us close behind. As we got to a tunnel Jon and I went first while Ardeth and Rick walked backwards in order to shoot the mummies that were in hot pursuit. Jon had the torch so he ran slightly ahead of me, we entered a big room with a high ceiling and Jon's torch light lit it up well enough for me to see the huge statue that sat in the one corner of the room.

"There he is. It's Horus!" I said, letting everyone know that we had finally found the statue we had been searching for. Jon spoke up as he lit the torches around the statue,

"Hello Horus old boy!"

I headed straight for the statue and immediately began to try to pull out the heavy stone drawer that lay in front of the drawer that held the book of the Amun-Ra, trusting Ardeth and Rick to watch my back. Jon came over and started to give me a hand with pulling out the large and heavy stone. I heard Rick say,

"Time to close the door." Before Jon who had been watching them grabbed me and hauled me over behind the statue. I was about to either ask him why or holler at him, I hadn't made up my mind yet when a loud and close explosion gave me the answer to his actions. Immediately after the explosion the four of us got out and Rick and Jon started to pull at the stone along with me while Ardeth kept watch and reloaded his gun.

We had the stone almost open far enough to be able to pull out the drawer with the book when the sound of Imhotep's priests echoed down one of the tunnels, causing me to look up and over in their direction. I wasn't the only one however, Rick swore in frustration as he and Jon kept inching out the stone I stood up and un-sheathed my swords.

"Richard O'Connell you had better find and save Evy and Jon you had better help him!" I said in a no argument tone.

"Wha? What are you going to do Ella?" Jon asked fear tinting his voice. I smiled down at him,

"What I do best." I said before I gave Ardeth a quick kiss, knowing I wouldn't be able to leave him if I did anything more before I ran down the tunnel to buy them time. I heard the clicking sound of a gun sliding it's bullets into place echo down the hallway behind me.

I cut their bodies down anyway I could and since they kept moving I tried to get at least one arm and one leg as well as whatever else I cut off or apart. I had just taken down the last one that was in the tunnel with me when a firm hand grabbed a hold of my shoulder. I had my sword to the neck of what I had automatically reacted to as a threat when I recognized Ardeth.

"What are you trying to do? Get yourself killed?" I said as I removed my sword from his neck. His answer was to push me up against the wall and kiss me senseless even as more danger was coming,

"I am never leaving your side." Ardeth said as he pulled back, his words carrying heavily to my heart like they were a sacred vow. I froze before a gentle smile touched my lips and I kissed him back,

"And I will never leave yours." I replied. Then we pulled apart, there was danger to face and we would face it head on, together.

We fought our way through the corpse's and finally arrived outside of the City of the Dead where Ardeth grabbed a camel which had a saddle on it, however next to it was a white mustang that only had a blanket on top of it where the saddle should go. I grinned at Ardeth and quickly jumped up onto the horse he stared at me in admiration and surprise before quickly getting on the camel.

Just in time to the ground began to shake and both horse's were nervous and ready to get out of there. I was worried about Evy but I knew I could trust Rick and Jon to get her out safely. I reached out for Ardeth's hand which he immediately laced with mine as the City of the Dead began to collapse.

Then I felt relief as I saw three figures running out of the city, I squeezed Ardeth's hand gently before letting go as I nodded to the three figures and held my finger over my lips. He looked at me curiously but followed behind me silently as I walked my horse up behind Jon as he, Rick and Evy were still staring at the fallen city.

I leaned over and clamped my hand down on Jon's shoulder hard, he screamed causing Evy to scream and Rick started to pull out a gun as they all turned to see me and Ardeth. My whole body was shaking as I laughed at their reactions,

"Oh! Thank you, thank you very much." Jon said as he rubbed his shoulder.

I gave him a grin as I slid off of the horse who stayed still, I pulled Jon and Evy into a tight hug which they returned before I pulled back. Ardeth spoke up then,

"You have earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people."

Evy pulled me away from the men as they continued to speak, "The only reason you weren't in there with Rick and Jon would be because you have finally fallen in love." Evy said her question clear in her knowing statement. I felt a blush heat up my face as I gave her a grin which answered her question,

"Oh Ella!" Evy said happily pulling me into another hug which I reciprocated.

"I guess two out of three isn't bad, after all we haven't searched the whole world for a girl for Jon yet." I said causing Evy and myself to burst into laughter. When we sobered up Evy grasped my hands,

"You going with him aren't you?" I gave Evy a small sad smile,

"I love you and Jon but Ardeth…well I really want to find out what our future together is. However I want an invitation to your wedding and I want to be the god-aunt of your kids!" I said starting out serious but ending on a joking note. Evy chuckled then gave me a sad smile,

"As long as you do the same." She replied. I smiled and kissed her forehead like I used to do when she was little,

"We will see each other again Evy. I promise you." I whispered before we hugged tightly and then parted.

"Hey what's all this about? Leaving me in the dark?" Jon asked as he came over to us. I laughed and put him in a playful headlock,

"You used to hate being included in girl talk when we were younger, but if you really want to know…" I said with a grin as Jon pulled away backpedaling out of the conversation causing Evy and I to laugh again. I grabbed Jon and pulled him into a tight hug before placing a quick but meaningful kiss on his forehead and re-mounting the horse.

"Rick. I hope you know taking care of Evy just started." I said sternly but with a grin. He gave me one back and I smiled down at the three of them,

"Well I'll be seeing you three later." I said with a smile before turning my horse and walking it over to Ardeth who had been waiting for me to say my goodbyes. He smiled softly at me as tear's pricked my eyes and I gave him a watery smile in return before we started riding off to the Medjia camp.

 **I got these translations off of the internet, if they are not correct I apologize.**

المجموعة أريد أن أتحدث إليكم في أقرب وقت عمله الخاص بك يتحدث إلى هذه **Arabic for I want to speak to you as soon as your done talking to this group.**

لقد غاب لك **Arabic for I have missed you**

حبيبتى **Arabic for my love**

أحبك **Arabic for I love you**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks for reviewing, following and adding this as a favorite also thanks to those who added me as a favorite. Enjoy chapter eight (sorry for the long wait.)**

 **CHAPTER EIGHT**

 _ **"Anta the time is coming….you must remember….remember your past who you really are…time is no longer on your side… daughter of Sekhmet you must remember!"**_

I jerked awake abruptly as a feeling of terror evaded my being at the face that had come into my mind's eye after that name had been spoken.

"What's wrong love?" Ardeth asked his voice heavy with sleep and tinged with concern as I had been waking up from nightmares for the past two years.

"Nothing, I'm okay." I whispered back kissing his cheek, after searching my eyes which caused me to smile he laid back down opening his arms to me. I snuggled down into his chest and listened to his heartbeat, at one time it would have lulled me to sleep but for the past four months almost nothing could make me sleep again once I had woken from the strange dreams and sometimes nightmares that had begun to visit me regularly the past two years.

When the sun finally started to rise I slipped out of our bed and after washing my face I changed into a pair of black pants and a black long-sleeve shirt that reminded me of the outfit Evy had worn several years ago on our trip to the City of the Dead.

"I wonder what she's doing?" I mused out-loud as I combed my hair before walking outside of the tent and joining the other women for breakfast. I knew Ardeth would be out soon so I decided to wait until he came out to tell him that I had decided to go to London and visit Jon, Evy, Rick and my god-son Alex.

Unfortunately I didn't get to talk to Ardeth before he had to leave for patrol which meant that he would be gone for the next month. That didn't cause me to waver however instead I wrote him a note and tied it to Chi, my tamed falcon, who took it to him. I packed lightly only taking three pairs of clothes and after hesitating for several moments I opened the trunk that held our blankets and removed them from the trunk and opened the small box that lay at the bottom of the trunk.

I traced the symbol Ardeth had carved into the lid of the wooden box before opening it and gazing at the small golden chain which held a lioness with sapphire's in place of eyes and the solar disk earring, upright cobra earring and the Eye of Ra earring as well as the four earrings which were hieroglyphs that spelled out the name Sekhmet.

It was the jewelry I had taken from the treasure room at the City of the Dead. I hadn't told Ardeth about them or the voice that had whispered to me when I had touched them, not because I wanted to hide them but because each time I thought about telling him I would suddenly forget.

Shaking my head to rid myself of all the thoughts and questions that piled on-top of each other I shut the box and pulled it out putting it into a pair of my clothes and wrapping my clothes around it before shoving it into the single bag I would be taking with me. I didn't write ahead, deciding I wanted to surprise them so I set off, feeling a rush of excitement to be traveling again.

Not that I didn't enjoy the life I had with Ardeth whom I had married not two months after we said goodbye to Evy, Jon and Rick, but settling down in a single place even if we did ride out a few days ride every so often just wasn't enough for me.

I loved to travel, learn new things and go to new places and honestly, I really wanted to get away from all the looks I was getting from the Medjia people who were beginning to wonder why I hadn't produced an heir yet. In some-ways I was glad I hadn't gotten pregnant yet. I feared being a mother as I hadn't had one I had really no knowledge of what to do during the early years of childhood. In another way though I really did long for a child after seeing Alex and how happy Evy and Rick were.

Once again shaking myself out of my thoughts I returned to the present and added a few daggers to my pack and then my body before putting the twin swords and their holder on my back Ardeth had made the holder and had the swords made for me as a wedding present. Apparently that had definitely not been normal for the Medjia men to give their to be wives as both Ardeth and I had been given strange looks and whispers had floated around for several weeks afterwards.

I tightened the holder into place and left the tent, I waited until Chi flew back to me bereft of the note I had tied to his leg and placed him back with the other falcons making sure to double check with the men who fed them that Chi would be fed and exercised while I was gone. Upon getting affirmation, I hopped bareback onto my mare, Lilac. One of the women who had become a close friend followed me on her camel so she could take Lilac back when I boarded the ship to London.

Aboard the ship I found myself unable to sleep as the strange voice invaded my thoughts almost every time I closed my eyes and I began to see strange things. I wasn't sure if it was the lack of sleep that was causing me to have such weird visions or if it had something to do with the large amount of coffee that I was continuously consuming to keep myself awake.

" _Probably a mixture of the two."_ I thought taking another sip of my cooling black coffee as I stared out over the railings thinking of nothing in particular as I waited for the sun's first ray's to break over the waters so I could see where we were. When the first warm peach colored ray's started to color the skies I found myself relieved as I could see the outline of London in the near distance.

Impatiently and more then a little jittery, two and a half weeks with barely ten hours of sleep and drinking more coffee then an entire legion of soldiers, at least I thought so, had already given me a slight shake but add in the adrenaline rush I got from seeing the outline of London and the excitement at seeing Jon, Evy, Rick and Alex caused me to shake like a hummingbirds wings.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everyone, sorry about the wait for the next chapter. I'm in the middle of co-writing a story with Queen Mab the Second, called 'The Hunter and the Red Haired Witch,' she's uploading it on deviant art under the name Darkamy1. Check it out if your interested it's a Grimm FF. Anyway here's the next chapter! I know its shorter then my others but I figured that ya'll would be happy if I wrote any update at all never-mind the length so here it is.**

 **CHAPTER NINE**

I hurriedly collected my things and was the first person off of the ship as I rushed down the dock's looking for the nearest building where I could empty my screaming bladder from all of the coffee that it was holding.

After relieving myself I bought a house warming gift from the store killing two birds with one stone as I didn't want to just use the bathroom and leave and I felt like I should have something whenever I surprised Evy and Rick at their home.

" _Not to mention that I want to have something for Evy and Rick as I already bought Alex two things while looking for a nice shop that had a bathroom I could use."_ I thought as I walked out of the store and started down the street once again, my bags a bit heavier than before but still manageable.

I paused for a moment at the street corner, weighing my options of either walking the long two – three hour walk to Evy and Rick's home or hailing a cab to drive me and get there faster.

As I mused over my two choices something glimmered to my left, catching my attention.

Turning my head slightly to see whatever it was better I blinked and then balked at what my eyes were seeing.

" _There's no way that its possible. I'm just hallucinating…yeah that's it. I had WAYYYY to much coffee. I mean the possibility of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet floating in a golden light not thirty feet from me is as possible as Jon actually settling down."_ I thought, trying to reassure myself that I was simply seeing things.

However, that …illusion or trick of the light or whatever it was, made my choice between walking and taking a cab to Evy and Rick's home a much easier one.

I simply began to walk trying not to let my mind drift as I kept a watchful eye on my surroundings.

" _Why is it always Sekhmet that I see and hear about? I know she's an Egyptian warrior goddess of healing but seriously what's the connection between her and myself?"_ I mulled over that singular thought the entire walk.

Not even realizing how far I had walked until I realized the absence of city noise, which although blotted had still been a familiar humming sound in the back of my mind.

Upon reaching the gate to the large mansion that belonged to Rick and Evy I paused to put down a bag and open the gate before stepping inside then repeating the process as I closed the gate before turning one last time and picking the bag back up as I began the walk up the long driveway.

 _"I hope their at home."_ I thought as I looked up at the ever closer mansion, wanting nothing more then a meal, a hot bath and to crawl into a warm bed.


End file.
